Héctor didn’t know what to say to that, except, “That is horrible. How? How could someone do that?”

“Well, I don’t know. I may not ever know, Héctor. And I imagine that might be what’s hard for you. Not knowing why this person has singled you out.”

“What if it’s because you’re different?”

Mrs. Caroline nodded as recognition spread on her face. “That’s very perceptive,” she said. “That’s probably what it is. People can sometimes be afraid of difference. And rather than try to understand it, they just lash out and hurt people, hoping they’ll change. Or conform.”

“But I don’t want to be the same,” he confessed.

“Then don’t be,” she said, and a huge smile lit up her face. She stood and smoothed out her red tulle skirt. “Be yourself. Be over the top. Outlast them. Show them that no amount of fear will ever make you change who you are.”

She drifted over to her desk, leaving Héctor with his swirling emotions. He wanted to do exactly what she’d said so badly. But then he remembered how Mike and the Minions had reacted to Héctor’s originality. How did Mrs. Caroline do it? How did she push past the doubt?

“Mr. Muñoz?”

“Yeah?”

“It doesn’t have to be me, but . . . if you need help, I’m here. You can talk to me.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”

He pulled out his sketch pad, then rose to go to the supply closet to get some pastels. As he pulled out different colors and ran them over his canvas with a steady hand, his chest started hurting. It was a small thing at first, and then it was like his body weighed a million pounds.

It didn’t make sense. Héctor had talked to someone, and their response had been really good!

So why didn’t he feel better?

What’s wrong with me? he wondered as he sat back down.

He wanted the Room.

No.

He wanted to disappear.

Héctor glanced up from his desk, the other kids dutifully working on their own pieces, and saw that Mrs. Caroline had moved. She was standing on the opposite side of the classroom in front of a drawing tacked up on the wall.

It was the one Héctor had done: a door opening into a bright, mysterious world.

Héctor spotted Taylor and Jackson while on his way to gym class. He should have been overjoyed to see them, but dread crept through his chest. So he kept his head down, hoping the two of them wouldn’t see him. He just wasn’t in the mood to talk.

But then Taylor called out his name, and there was no way he could pretend not to have heard that.

“Oh, hey,” he said, nodding at the two of them as they approached.